During our
education research we happened to stumble upon an indigenous Oaxacan girl
studying in The Netherlands, our home country. That called for an interview, to
find out more about her background and motivation! We want to share her
inspiring story with you.
Tania grew up
in a small village called Tamazulapam in the Mixe region in Oaxaca. She learned
English mostly by herself. In 2016 she earned the ‘Premio Nacional de la Juventud 2016’ (National Youth Award) for her academic achievements. Now she is pursuing her PHD in
agriculture at Wageningen University in The Netherlands.
Already at
a young age Tania was motivated to
study, because her grandmother passed on her wisdom and shaped her worldview. Her
parents being multicultural teachers, meaning they were teaching in their native
language ‘Mixe’, helped her with her
education. However, circumstances were very difficult. With support from
different scholarship programmes she managed to study in the United States and
now in The Netherlands. Tania told us it is very important for young people in
Oaxaca to develop a more long-term sustainable vision regarding education. Due
to circumstances, many young people start to earn money right away, instead of going to
school and develop better career opportunities. ‘Motivating young people to study
is crucial’, Tania explains. ‘When people migrate to other countries and return
to their village years after, they find the villagers under the same circumstances
as when before they left’. Tania pleads for young people to look beyond the
mountains of Oaxaca and explore the world.
It is such
a privilege to get in touch with inspiring people like Tania. Want to know more
about her? Check out her blog.
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| Tania and her grandmother |
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